Reports Overview

Reports are available in a variety of forms and formats. Generally, they fall into one of these categories:

• Custom reports generated using a Report type form
• Custom reports generated using DataViews
• System standard form reports
• Reports generated using Microsoft SSRS

Custom reports from Report type forms

The application has a form type called "Report." The Report type of form allows you to create application forms that are designed to generate templates for custom reports. This is an improvement over other types of custom reports in the application, because you can both run and publish the report without having to use third-party reporting engines. This kind of report is ideal for reports that you want to generate on a regular basis, either on demand (by running the form) or automatically (as a background task).

Custom reports from DataViews

For certain kinds of reports, the DataViews functionality can be a valuable and easy tool to generate them. These are most commonly used for reports that you might want to generate "on the fly", without wanting to invest a lot of time and effort in formatting the results.

These reports also do not require the use of a third-party report generation engine, but they do require that you be licensed to use DataViews.

System standard form reports

The system includes a number of standard report forms created for the purpose of generating certain reports. These reports can be identified by the use of the word "Report" in the form name/caption (for example, User Authorization Report).

Reports using the Microsoft SSRS reporting engine

While you can still create and use these kinds of reports (and we still support them for backward compatibility), SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) reports are now deprecated in the application. Instead, we recommend that you use either the new Report type of form or a DataView-based report.

Publishing reports

Customizing/Modifying reports

If you have the required editing permissions, you can customize reports of any type to your needs. The requirements for customizations and modifications depend on what type of report you want to customize or modify.